Creative Gone MAD, Day 26: Impressions

So I was browsing online looking for Tibetan singing bowls for a dear friend of mine a few moments ago. I am amazed by the buzz words and catch phrases vendors [effectively] use to draw certain responses from a reader. I saw a lot about fair trade, equality, cooperative, and all things that imply sustainability and equity. At first, I wanted to send her those, but I realize the one word I was looking for was ‘original’ or ‘authentic’ which none of them said. Sad, because I’d really like to get her one similar to the one I bought in Dubai. It was from Nepal…so they say!
But then I saw fashion designer Donna Karan has her own brand/branded Tibetan singing bowls. Yes, you are reading that correctly and please google this if you don’t believe me. I’d post an image myself if a) copyright wasn’t a concern, b) I wasn’t so lazy. They are very stylish bowls, actually, and have a very clean and polished look about them. Believe it or not, despite the tone of this paragraph, I didn’t judge her. I mean, the reality is that she or someone else has made this decision and I assume it is likely profitable for them. And then I thought, perhaps it’s not about profitability. Maybe she feels that if she extends her brand to something spiritual and meaningful, it might expose an otherwise underexposed audience, to this spiritual practice.
It got me to thinking, though—what am I doing to leave my mark on things? In what ways am I creating ideas, business models, art projects, or branding ideas that generate energy and have impact? What is amazing about ‘public personas’ that have these huge persona brands is that they operate as businesses. They look for unique ways to put their signature on things that immediately give the impression that somehow, this particular item is now imbued with their essence. Now many of us know this is not the case, but it definitely makes people feel that way and I’m sure they think that way as well. But then I realized, every breath I take, I am leaving a mark or an impression. Its not about commerce or trade. Every choice I make in my life, it has the potential to immediately impact the life of another person. I realized, this not a thought that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. We often passively engage with the world around us, with the people around us. We do things, sometimes, completely in our own heads and in our own worlds.
I spent a fair amount of time thinking about this, then I realized how important it is to constantly be aware of the choices we make and ALSO the intentions behind them. While we can have ‘good’ or ‘bad’ intentions and end up with results contrary to whatever we were aiming for, that doesn’t change the fact that we should always have them in mind.
When life as we know it has ended for each of us, so much of our lives will be about the impressions we leave behind. With every word, interaction, creation, or relationship, we create vibrations that quickly ripple throughout the universe and will eventually return to their sender. As such, we should make sure our intentions are always of the highest order, but not because we want some sort of universal favor. We should do it because we realize the impact we have on the worlds and lives around us. This realization should make us want to leave things better than they were before we came.
Yours Truly,
Creative Gone MAD